TierraCast – Why Was This Allowed to Happen?

This is why when I shop on Etsy, the sellers in the USA and Canada are ALWAYS first in priority when I make my purchase orders for beads, toggles and other beady supplies.

I struggle to remember all the reasons Tierra Cast cites in their goodbye message as to why they’re going out of business, but this still DISGUSTS me that compliance, regulation and overseas competition were some of the deciding factors in this.

Sometimes overseas competition is healthy and good for those in other countries who are gifted artisans, who are struggling with feeding their families and can bring us the beauty of their craft for less than we can buy domestically – but I am a STRONG OPPONENT to the Chinese market FLOODING the world with poor quality GARBAGE made at the expense of their environment (Ask me about the Yellow River, or better yet, look up what they have done to it and its surrounding ecosystem in the name of becoming the number one competitor in the overseas market.)

Other times I remember that it is the law of natural selection that the strongest companies and artisans survive, but with the death of 75% of the jewelry businesses in Southern California over the 29 years I have been selling jewelry, this hits a raw nerve. Three of the major Delica bead vendors in Southern California (Beads & Other Needs, Creative Castle and The San Gabriel Company) have died off in the last ten years alone, forcing all of us locally in the jewelry designer business who use Delicas to go online for our larger-scale and hard-to-find colors orders and DAMMIT, one absolutely CANNOT accurately choose these colors without seeing them in person.

So today I light a candle to these four companies – greats that have passed before us – and continue my search for U.S. based artisans and Delica vendors with a heavy heart and debit card in hand. 

)O( Luna